Tube closure



April I s. J. KRANNAK 2,113,695

TUBE CLOSURE Filed Sept. 17, 1957 Sid? Ji fiuzwal By 234472 0] ZQWM 4/492? Patented Apr. 12, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TUBE CLOSURESteven J. Krannak, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application September 17, 1937,Serial No. 164,345

1 Claim.

My present invention relates to collapsible tubes or containers such,for example, as used for containing tooth paste, shaving cream, shoeblacking or polish, glue, mucilage, and generally, liquid or pastysubstances.

The invention is directed to improved means for controlling thedischarge of the material from the tube or container and provides astructure in which an ordinary removable cap is eliminated and thevalve-acting element is employed in lieu thereof. In this improvedarrangement there is no part that must necessarily be removed in orderto affect or control the discharge of the material from the tube.

Several forms of the invention are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout theseveral views.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section,with some parts broken away, showing my invention applied to acollapsible tube or container of the general character indicated;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in vertical section illustrating a modifiedform of the discharge end of the tube, shown in Fig. 1.

Referring first to the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, thenumeral l3 indicates the collapsible tube, preferably made of ductilemetal, and provided with the usual externally threaded neck I4. The neckI4 and, in fact, the tube end l5 to which it is attached, may be made asa part of the tube l3 or may be independently formed and thereafterapplied to the tube by welding or any other suitable operation.

Onto the threaded neck I4 is screwed a cap l6 that forms an extendedportion of the discharge neck and has a quite large final dischargeopening formed by a conical valve seat ll. Normally seated against thevalve seat I1 and closing said discharge passage is a valve or stopper,preferably and as shown, of spherical form, indicatedby the numeral 18.This valve I8 is yieldingly pressed by a coiled spring IS, the base ofwhich is seated on the internal end of a flange 20 of the cap 16. Theopening through the flange 20 is slightly larger than the diameter ofthe ball or valve l8 so that the said ball can be inserted into the cap;but the said passage through the flange 20 is slightly smaller than thediameter of the base of the spring l9 so that said spring l9 has to besprung or forced through said passage and sprung into engagement withthe upper surface of the flange 20 where it will be held in place andwill hold the ball or valve iii in position even when the cap it hasbeen removed.

It is important, however, to note that for the discharge of substancefrom the tube it is not necessary nor desirable to remove the cap or anyother part from the tube. or from working position. By the simpleoperation of pressing the ball inward and at the same time pressing onthe collapsible tube, the desired discharge of the paste or substancefrom the tube will be effected. In applying shaving cream and otherviscous substances to the face or other surface of application, it willbe only necessary to press the ball against the face and at the sametime to press slightly on the tube, and in this way the shaving creamwill be well distributed over the face.

Due to the location of the conical valve surface H at the extreme outerend of the discharge passage, it will be evident that the viscouscontents of the container will be cut off at the extreme outer end ofthe discharge passage by the cooperating valve surfaces so that allmaterial within the recesses of the tube or neck will normally be sealedagainst contact with the air, thereby positively preventingcontamination of all material within the confines of the tube anddischarge neck, or plugging of the discharge neck by air drying of theviscous substance within the confines thereof.

Since, in the structure illustrated, the major cross sectional area, orin fact, all of the crosssectional area of the spherical valve 18 inwardof the conical valve seat I1 is subject to pressure of the tubecontents, pressure thereof will tend to seat the valve and thereby makeit impossible to unseat the valve l8 by internal pressure exertedthereon by the tube contents, and discharge will be possible when andonly when the projecting portion of the valve IB is engaged by a surfaceof application under suflicient pressure to inwardly open the valveco-incidentally with the application of internal pressure to thecontents of the tube by distortion or collapsing action of the tube.

The operation of the structure defined in Fig. 3 is like or very similarto the operation just described. In this structure of Fig. 3 the cap 2|is shown as an integral part of the discharge end 22 of the collapsibletube 23. The ball-like valve 24 which closes the discharge passage ofthe cap 2| is pressed by a leaf spring 25 that is seated on an annularshoulder 26 on the interior of the cap.

It is highly important to note that the balllike stopper mounted in thedischarge passage of the cap or neck, not only has exposed portionsadapting the valves to be opened by pressing the same against the faceor hand for example, but are capable of free rotation so that drawnpencil like over an object or surface, the ball will act as'adistributor of the material. Further highly important to note that withthe ball arrangement shown in this application, the contents of thecontainer are cut of! at the very outer edge I of the cap, so that noportion of the discharge material or of the material in the dischargepassage proper will remain to harden or choke up free discharge when thevalve is opened.

What I claim is:

A containing and dispensing device, for viscous substances that requirepressure to flow the same, comprising a collapsible container having atubular discharge neck formed immediately ad-' jacent its discharge endwith a reduced diameter final outlet passage, of a self-sealing closurefor said discharge neck which includes inwardly opening yieldinglyoutwardly pressed valve means normally closing the final dischargepassage at the extreme discharge end thereof and against discharge ofmaterial under pressure exerted thereon by the tube contents, saiddischarge neck bein: formed with an annular valve seat immediatelyadjacent the discharge end thereof for sealing engagement with acooperating valve surface on said valve means. said valve means having aportion extended through the final discharge passage and slightly beyondthe outer end of the discharge neck for engagement by a surface ofapplication and having its major area inward of the valve surfacessubject to pressure of the tube contents, whereby the contents of thecon tainer will be positively sealed against accidental discharge underpressure exerted thereon through distortion of the tube and will bereleasable from the tube when and only when the tube contents aresubject to pressure through collapsing of the tube coincidentally withopening of the closure means by inward pressure exerted thereon by asurface of application, and will be cut off irrespective of internalpressure as soon as the extended portion of the valve means is withdrawnfrom the surface of application so that when the valve surfaces are thussealed,,all material within the recesses of the tube and neck will besealed against air contact to prevent drying and consequent plugging orcontamination.

STEVEN J. KRANNAK.

